Dots3-Note Preview (free) is free for input tokens while LongCat 2.0 costs $0.3 per 1M tokens.
API cost decision in 10 seconds
NewDots3-Note Preview (free) vs LongCat 2.0
Pick Dots3-Note Preview (free) for lower cost; pick LongCat 2.0 only if the larger context window matters more.
Page updated:
Data confirmed:
Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens
Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output
Budget verdict
Pick Dots3-Note Preview (free) for lower cost; pick LongCat 2.0 only if the larger context window matters more.
On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Dots3-Note Preview (free) is estimated at $0 vs $0.9 for LongCat 2.0, saving $0.9 (100% lower).
Cost-first pickDots3-Note Preview (free)
Context-first pickLongCat 2.0
Sample savings$0.9100%
10x traffic gap$9
LongCat 2.0 has more context, but Dots3-Note Preview (free) saves $0.9 on the standard workload. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $9. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.
Cost sensitivity
Workload Sensitivity
Dots3-Note Preview (free) stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.
| Workload shape | Token mix | Better pick | Dots3-Note Preview (free) | LongCat 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Input-heavy / RAG | 5M input + 500K output | Dots3-Note Preview (free) | $0 | $2.1 |
| Balanced workload | 1M input + 1M output | Dots3-Note Preview (free) | $0 | $1.5 |
| Output-heavy chatbot | 1M input + 5M output | Dots3-Note Preview (free) | $0 | $6.3 |
Dots3-Note Preview (free) is free for output tokens while LongCat 2.0 costs $1.2 per 1M tokens.
LongCat 2.0 has 536.76K more context (2.05x larger).
Dots3-Note Preview (free) is free for the standard workload while the other model is estimated at $0.9.
Estimate your workload cost
Your Workload Cost
This estimate uses normalized public API pricing per 1M tokens. It is a planning aid, not a billing quote. Verify provider pricing, limits, and terms before production use.
Quick Decision
Dots3-Note Preview (free) has the lower input price; Dots3-Note Preview (free) has the lower output price; LongCat 2.0 offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Dots3-Note Preview (free) is cheaper for the standard workload.
For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $0 for Dots3-Note Preview (free) and $0.9 for LongCat 2.0.
Choose Dots3-Note Preview (free) when you care most about lower input-token price, and lower output-token price.
Choose LongCat 2.0 when you care most about larger context window.
- On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Dots3-Note Preview (free) is estimated at $0 vs $0.9 for LongCat 2.0, saving $0.9 (100% lower).
- Dots3-Note Preview (free) is free for the standard workload while the other model is estimated at $0.9.
- Dots3-Note Preview (free) is free for input tokens while LongCat 2.0 costs $0.3 per 1M tokens.
- Dots3-Note Preview (free) is free for output tokens while LongCat 2.0 costs $1.2 per 1M tokens.
- LongCat 2.0 has 536.76K more context (2.05x larger).
| Feature | NewDots3-Note Preview (free) (Dots Studio) | LongCat 2.0 (Meituan) |
|---|---|---|
| Input Price prompt tokens per 1M | $0 | $0.3 |
| Completion Price per 1M tokens | $0 | $1.2 |
| Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output | $0 | $0.9 |
| Context Window | 512K | 1.05M |
| Release Date |
Use-Case Decision Matrix
| Use case | Better pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Budget-constrained production | Dots3-Note Preview (free) | On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Dots3-Note Preview (free) is estimated at $0 vs $0.9 for LongCat 2.0, saving $0.9 (100% lower). |
| High-volume input processing | Dots3-Note Preview (free) | Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill. |
| Long responses and chatbots | Dots3-Note Preview (free) | Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens. |
| RAG or long-document work | LongCat 2.0 | A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files. |
Related Alternatives
- No lower-cost same-provider swap is currently tracked for this pair.
- DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 offers 1.31M context with $0.17 sample workload cost.
- DeepSeek V4 Flash Latest offers 1.31M context with $0.11 sample workload cost.
- Llama 4 Scout offers 1.31M context with $0.25 sample workload cost.
- MiMo-V2.5 offers 1.05M context with $0.28 sample workload cost.
- DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 · DeepSeek · #1
- MiMo-V2.5 · Xiaomi · #2
- Hy3 · Tencent · #3
- Ox Alpha · stealth · #4
Cheaper alternatives
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Open Meituan modelsDots3-Note Preview is an open-weight mixture-of-experts model from Dots Studio, with 16B active parameters out of 280B total. It is the lightest model in the Dots 3 family and is...
LongCat 2.0 is a sparse mixture-of-experts language model from Meituan, with 48B active parameters out of 1.6T total. It is suited for coding, repository-level changes, long-horizon problem solving, and agentic...